Tag: Marketing

DFS Marketing Inc is an annuity and insurance marketing organization.
If you are an insurance agent or financial advisor and wish to build your agency, call us now 855-740-3140
DFS Marketing provides great tools and programs for insurance and annuity agents

DFS Marketing also help seniors to find the right insurance product from top rated insurance carriers, for free consultation call 855-740-3140

Selling insurance products comes with its own unique set of lead generation challenges, not least among them the fact that prospects are either

a) reluctant to admit they need what you’re selling, as is often the case with life insurance products

or

b) afraid to plan for one of their own looming obstacles, namely, how they will fund their retirement.

All of this is why, year after year, advisors name lead generation as the No. 1 issue that can make or break a practice. It takes creativity to overcome this barrier, especially with the threat of competition emerging from non-traditional channels.

How to do it?

To stay in the competition you need to become partners with trusted insurance marketing organizations. Not all the Insurance Marketing organizations know how to generate leads. There are a few IMOs that help insurance agents and financial advisors with lead generation and book more appointments with clients.

DFS Marketing has been ahead of the game with lead generation and scheduling appointments for independent insurance agents.

Retirement

The fact is that the retirement landscape in America is changing, it may surprise you to learn that the fastest growing segment within the United States population are those citizens age 80 and over. This will impact the entire country as a higher percentage of citizens enter to this stage in life.

Challenge #1

In addition to higher overall numbers of retirees, Americans can now expect to live a greater longer than they could just a few decades ago. Because of medical advances and healthier living and more active life style many retirees will now see the retirement last for 20 to 30 years or even more. Isn’t that fantastic?
This does create a challenge however. The rising population of new retirees and a longer average retirement places pressure on the US retirement system. The facts are that we are entering a new era unlike anything the country has faced before.Proper planning now can ensure that you are ready for the challenges that lie ahead.

Challenge #2

The second challenge to a successful retirement that is often overlook is the high cost of inflation. The fact is that the year in and year out inflation erodes the purchasing power of your retirement savings. Since 1975 the consumer price index that measures inflation has increased by an average of 4.35% per year. Does that rate of growth surprise you? The following tells you a little more about this challenge of inflation:

According to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Inflation Calculator:

Groceries that used to cost you $100 in 1975 now cost more than $359 today.

A $7,000 automobile now costs more than $25,000.

The price of a gallon of milk has increased by more than 3.5 times.

The bottom line is that inflation reduces your purchasing power.
This brings us to our next challenge to retirement Success:

Challenge #3

Taxes:

I meet with a lot of people and I always hear the same thing over and over:

Folks tell me that they pay more than enough for taxes, and they feel the system is pretty complicated. Well they are not really so complicated after all.

The way it works is:

“The more you earn, the higher percentage you will pay.”

Taxes can reduce the power of your long term savings and ultimately reduce the total quality of your retirement. How do you feel about this?

Challenge #4

Our next retirement challenge is the impact on Social Security Benefits
As the demand on Social Security increases, so does pressure to make changes to the existing system. Isn’t that what we hear all the time? Politicians in Washington DC are constantly grappling with this big issue. Many experts believe that more changes lie ahead.
The outcome of this decisions will directly affect you. What do you think is going to happen? Did you know as much as 85% of your Social Security benefits can be subjected to income tax?

Many of the people that I meet with, are surprised to learn that they are paying taxes on their Social Security benefits. This taxation is based on something called Provisional Income.

Provisional Income includes the total of normal earned income like interest from CD’s (Certificates of Deposit) as well as one-half of the Social Security benefits you receive and even tax-exempt income such as interest earned from tax-free municipal bonds. As you can see it doesn’t take a whole lot of income to end up losing some of your benefits.

Challenge #5

Market Risk is our next challenge to Retirement Success

My questions are pretty simple:
Should all of your assets be exposed to the same level of risk? And if you could paint a perfect picture what would you really like your money to do for you?
Market Risk can impact how long your retirement funds will last when you begin accessing your money during retirement. Market rise and fall on a daily basis. Accessing your money during a market downturn can dramatically affect how long your retirement dollars will last. Does that make sense to you?
The other thing to consider is with many investments and savings tools you will pay fees and commissions as you access these assets that you worked s lifetime to accumulate.
Many of my clients indicate to me that they want to avoid that situation. How do you feel about it?
To truly have a successful retirement we need to overcome these challenges. I believe you may share many other concerns my other clients have.

Summary

Longer Life Expectancies: Is there a way to ensure that your money lasts throughout your lifetime?

Inflation: Can you keep pace with or even outpace inflation?

Taxes: Can you control when or if you pay taxes during your lifetime? Can you reinvest earnings without taxation?

Social Security: Can you avoid the tax liability on your Social Security benefits?

Safety: Can you guarantee your principal and past growth against market risk?

Access: Can you accomplish this and still have sufficient access to your money when needed?

As with any challenge I believe there is always an opportunity.

One Solution:

A TAX Deferred Fixed Annuity:

A Tax Deferred Annuity is a contract between you and an insurance company. This contractual relationship provides certain features and advantages that many people find beneficial in their overall financial picture.

I like to share with you some of those things:

Let’s Review the common challenges again and identify some solutions

Remember challenge #1?

Longer life expectancies now extend retirement for many years.

Solution:

An annuity is the ONLY financial vehicle that can provide a Guaranteed Income for life; no matter how long you live. Doesn’t that sound great?

Challenge #2:

keeping up with the rising costs of inflation. Between 1975 and 2005, consumer prices have increased by 4.35% per year. That’s just too much!

Solution:

A TAX deferred annuity can help you grow your money more efficiently with competitive rates of return and TAX deferred accumulation.

Challenge #3:

Income Taxes: Every year, taxes can take a substantial portion of your earnings. You are paying the IRS for your interest, dividends, and capital gains even if you are not using those funds.

Solution:

A TAX Deferral strategy puts you in control of when you will pay taxes on the interest you earn.
TAX Deferral is really TAX Control. Doesn’t that sound better?

TAX Deferral is your right to decide, if ever in your lifetime, to pay taxes on the interest you earn.

You earn interest on your principal.

You earn interest on your interest.

You earn interest on the money you would have otherwise paid in taxes.

Can this help reduce your TAX picture? ABSOLUTLEY!

Challenge #4:

Social Security benefits lost to income taxes due to Provisional Income calculations.

Solution:

One type of income that is not included in the Provisional Income formula is TAX deferred income.
By simply putting some of your assets into a TAX deferred Annuity and leaving the interest to compound internally, you can control your income flow to meet your needs without taxing your important Social Security benefits.
In essence this is an additional benefit of TAX deferred growth. Isn’t that terrific?

Let’s take a look at a sample retiree situation:

This person is single and has done a good job saving for her retirement. She has accumulated some assets and has invested in CDs, Money Markets and Muni Bonds. Her income consists of a pension of $19,200 per year, Social Security is paying her $11,400, Bonds interests is equal to $4,000, The CDs and Money Market account’s interest is approximately $12,800. For a combined total income annually of $47,400.

Now let’s take a look at how we calculate provisional income:

Very simply we carry the pension income over in its entirely ($19,200) but for the provisional income threshold calculation we take half of the social security benefit as well, So half of $11,400 is $5,700. We include all the bonds interests ($4,000) and all the CDs and Money Market interest ($12,800). For the total threshold income of $41,700 as compared to a total actual income of $47,400. (Social Security TAX percentage is 85%)
This is a lot of information! So, you might have questions about what we just did here to calculate threshold income and how that compares to het total income?!!
Let’s move on! She is single, and her threshold income is $41,700! That means 85% of her social security benefits will be subject to TAX! That means 85% of $11,400 or $9,690 is considered taxable income to her! At her TAX bracket she will pay a little over $2,600 in taxes on her social security benefits alone! And she will be looking at an overall TAX bill of just under $5,300.
Now let’s re-visit her situation with a minor adjustment. The minor adjustment is to simply introduce an annuity in to her retirement nest egg. By adding an annuity to her portfolio, we are able to reduce her taxable income amount by $16,800! That one adjustment in her portfolio reduces her threshold income to $24,900, which is under the threshold limit of $25,000. Because she is below the threshold of $25,000 her social security will no longer be considered taxable. So she doesn’t pay taxes on her social security benefits, and finally her overall tax bill is reduced to $1,249. That represents a 76% reduction in taxes. This is very significant. Don’t you think?!

Challenge #5:

Market Risk: Market rise and fall on a daily basis.

Solution:

Deferred Annuity insulate you from negative market movements. An annuity guarantees your principal and any growth inside your plan from lost. It is really rock-solid protection for your assets.

Other benefits of a Tax-Deferred Fixed Annuity:

Because it is a contract with an insurance company when you properly designate your beneficiaries you can:

Thank you for attending DFS’s Free IUL/Annuity Leads Event. We hope that you found the workshop informative and worthwhile.
Our primary goals were:

How to receive our FREE INDEXED LIFE & ANNUITY LEADS

How to position yourself to sell more IUL than you could ever imagine

The ULTIMATE annuity sales pitch and sales tool

“Ticking Time Bomb” and working with high net worth clients

The strategy for answering and overcoming any objection when selling IUL

How to present annuity in a way that makes prospects WANT to own it

A complimentary Software/Calculator that will help you close more IUL prospects

Marketing/Prospecting programs to attract more annuity opportunities

Award winning agent platform – SuperAgentTools.com

If you attend, you will receive a FREE FINANCIAL PLANNING WEBSITE

There were many topics covered during the workshop and the presenters did an outstanding job of sharing their expertise with you.
You were a great group and your enthusiasm and positive spirit helped make our time together both productive and fun.
Thank you for your comments and suggestions on the evaluations and I assure you that each will be given consideration so that future workshops will be even more of a success.
If we can be of help in any way, or if you have questions, please feel free to contact DFS Marketing at 855-740-3140.
Again, thank you for being part of our Free IUL/Annuity Leads Event and I wish you the best.

Recently, we have all witnessed a dramatic change in the attitudes people have about their money. Investors have begun seeking ways to properly eliminate risk and preserve long-term, guaranteed growth. When people seek safety and protection, they often consider utilizing the services and guarantees of America’s insurance industry. For many years, people have considered annuities to be a safe haven for their life savings. The following is a brief outline that reveals some of the reasons annuities and insurance companies are so safe.

Regulation

The US insurance industry is truly one of the tightest regulatory environments in the world.
Each state has a Department of Insurance (DOI) regulating insurance activity in their respective state. For example, if you live in Oklahoma, your DOI is keeping an eye on the operation and solvency of each insurance company that does business in Oklahoma. It is important to keep in mind that the same holds true if that same insurance company is approved to do business in another state. In other words, your DOI is not the only one watching over the insurer. Every state the insurer does business in has another DOI looking over their shoulder as well. This creates a truly remarkable level of oversight to catch potential problems well before they can get out of hand. The following is a short list of the key areas under
constant supervision.

Capital & Surplus Requirements

Insurers use capital and surplus as a buffer to finance growth and pay for emergencies and other business commitments. Each state specifies a minimum dollar amount for required capital and surplus that each insurer must maintain.

Risk Based Capital Ratio (RBC)

This sophisticated formula allows regulators to evaluate whether the insurer maintains sufficient capital in relation to the relative risk within the insurers operations. Each year, the RBC levels for each company are reported to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) and the state where the insurance company is domiciled. These ratios are then compared to the standards set by the NAIC for monitoring. The NAIC prescribes action based on 6 categories within the levels of performance for the RBC Ratio.

Solvency

Annual Statements are filed with every state where the insurance company is licensed to do business and a copy sent to the NAIC. This allows for a thorough annual review of overall solvency within the company.

Other Ratios and Formulas

The Insurance Regulatory Information System (IRIS) is a system that has been developed to monitor financial conditions and prevent insolvency within an insurer. There are a total of 12 financial tests performed within the IRIS. The Financial Analysis and Solvency Tracking (FAST) system was created for additional analysis of larger insurers. The FAST system is applied to review the insurance company’s financial status every three years. The FAST system reviews both current financial records along with a review of the company’s 5-year history.

Guaranty Associations

As an additional safety net, each state has established a life and health guaranty association, which operates under the supervision of the state insurance commissioner. Insurers are required to participate in a state’s guaranty association in order to do business in the state. The association is responsible for funding obligations to policyholders should an insurance company be unable to meet the financial obligation. The members of the association are assessed fees to pay for obligations to customers. Guaranty funds have specific limitations on the amount they cover. These amounts vary from state to state. State laws ordinarily prohibit an insurer from using the existence of the guaranty association for the purpose of the sale of insurance and annuities.

Other Insurance Companies

In order to keep a safe distance from financial challenges, insurance companies work together to create an additional level of safety for policyholders. Many insurers actively pursue reinsurance through other insurance carriers. This further spreads the risk against the potential for a catastrophic financial dilemma to have a substantial impact on any individual company.

Specialization

Today, many insurance companies specialize in a particular line of business. While this may skew their risk into specific types of areas, it can also provide another level of security. For instance, an insurer that focuses almost exclusively in the annuity business is not exposed by large natural disasters or unforeseen health circumstances. A well-managed annuity company can provide tremendous levels of safety and confidence by properly managing the funds in their care through a conservative portfolio of government issued and investment grade bonds.

Time

Insurance companies are built to last. In Europe for example, you can find insurers that are literally hundreds of years old. This tradition of conservative asset management and well tested formulas for performance put insurance companies in a class by themselves.

Size

Insurance companies today are measured in terms of the billions of dollars that they have under their care. This financial clout allows companies to weather the storms of time and keep the promises they have made to their policyholders.

Ratings Services

Insurance companies are among the most closely monitored business entities in the United States. Most active insurers are scrutinized by ratings services such as Weiss, Standard & Poors, Fitch, and the premier insurance rating company, A.M. Best. Companies like A.M. Best do more than simply make sure the company is meeting the minimum standards for regulatory clearance. Most ratings services are measuring the amount that the insurance company actually EXCEEDS the minimum requirements.
This additional monitoring level cannot be overstated. Nobody thinks twice when a consumer asks, “What is that insurance company rated?” In fact, most agents don’t wait for the question to be asked. They often offer the current company ratings to the client because it is assumed that they expect to receive this type of information. Why? Because the insurance industry is safe and measurable to a high degree. Now think carefully; when was the last time you asked, “What is my bank rated?” or how about, “I wonder what the credit rating of my local stock broker is?”

Taxation

The items discussed above are indicative of a truly safe environment for an individual’s long-term money. However, there is a risk that is often overlooked; the erosive nature of the personal income tax. Every American that earns interest in non-qualified CDs, checking accounts, money market accounts, bonds and other interest bearing vehicles must pay Uncle Sam a percentage of what was earned whether they used this money or not. Insurance products like annuities allow people to determine when, if ever in their lifetime, they are going to pay income taxes on their earned interest. This advantage can dramatically increase the amount of money people have available when they need it most.

Summary

Are insurance companies really safe? Absolutely! Insurance companies that follow the prescribed formulas, practices and traditions mentioned above can achieve a level of financial security for customers that other financial service entities can only dream of. Give us a call to evaluate if your current portfolio passes the safety test!